Abdominal retractors are well known, and are typically used during surgery to expand incisions so that body parts under the incision may be accessed by the surgeon. One well-known type of abdominal retractor is a metal retractor. Metal retractors are typically placed at opposite sides of the incision to expand the incision for surgery. Metal retractors have often been used with cotton sponges held against the sides of the incision by the retractors.
Other types of retractors include wound edge protectors. Examples of wound edge protectors include those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,347,226 and 3,347,227. However, these wound edge protectors do not adjust the vertical length of the sleeve. Wound edge protectors typically have an inner ring spaced from an outer ring with a flexible sheet of material formed into a sleeve extending between the rings and connected at opposite ends to the rings. During surgery, the inner ring is squeezed into an oblong shape to be inserted through the wound and to be allowed to expand against the inside edge of the wound. The outer ring overlaps the outside edge of the wound to cause the sleeve to contract the sides of the wound and expand the wound for surgery. The sides of the wound are also protected by the sleeve from contamination during surgery. These wound edge protectors are typically not adjustable and numerous different sized retractors are required having varying sized rings and/or sleeve lengths for different sized wounds.
In another known wound edge protector, the circumference of the wound edge protector is adjustable by use of telescoping inner and outer rings and overlapping lengthwise sleeve edges.
Also known is an incision liner and retractor which is similar in construction to wound edge protectors. In the incision liner and retractor, the length of the sleeve is incrementally adjustable by rolling the sleeve onto the circumference of the outer ring by rotating the outer ring about its central axis. In one example, the outer ring has an oblate cross-section with opposed flat chordal surfaces to assist in rotating the ring about its central axis. However, manually rotating the outer ring about its central axis is often difficult. An example of such an incision liner and retractor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,644.